Contents

Specifications

In Ferrari's first official announcement of the car, the 458 Italia was described as the successor to the F430 but arising from an entirely new design, incorporating technologies developed from the company's experience in Formula 1.[4]

Transmission

The standard transmission is a Getragdual-clutch 7-speed transmission, similar to the Ferrari California.[4] There is no traditional manual option, making this the second road-car after the Enzo to not be offered with Ferrari's classic gated manual.

Handling

The car's suspension will feature double wishbones at the front and a multi-link set-up at the rear, coupled with E-Diff and F1-Trac traction control systems, designed to improve the car's cornering and longitudinal acceleration by 32% compared to its predecessors.[4]

The brakes include a prefill function whereby the pistons in the calipers move the pads into contact with the discs on lift off to minimise delay in the brakes being applied.[2] This combined with the ABS has reduced 100–0 km/h (62-0 mph) braking distance to 32.5 metres (107 ft).[6]

Performance

Ferrari's official 0-100 km/h (62 mph) acceleration is less than 3.4 seconds, while top speed is over 325 km/h (202 mph), with a fuel consumption in combined cycle (ECE+EUDC) 13.7 L/100 km (20.6 mpg-imp; 17.2 mpg-US) while producing 320g/km of CO2.[8]

Design

The black winglet deforms at high speeds to reduce aerodynamic drag.

The car was designed by Pininfarina, as with all recent Ferrari models. The car’s exterior styling and features were designed for aerodynamic efficiency, producing a downforce of 140 kg at 124 miles per hour (200 km/h).[4] In particular, the front grille features deformable winglets that lower at high speeds, in order to offer reduced drag.[9] The car's interior was designed using input from former Ferrari Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher, including a new steering wheel design which incorporates many features and controls as opposed to them being on the dashboard, similar to racing car designs.[4]

According to Autocar, the 458 Italia's design has drawn inspiration from the Enzo Ferrari and its Mille Chili concept car.[10] It has been designed to be Ferrari's sportiest V8-engined car, to distinguish itself from the recently launched Ferrari California.[10]